Stockholm Syndrome
by arcadie
Summary: chapt 2-After being a captive in a hostage situation, even his fellow Ducks can't understand Adam and his strange behavior. While Bombay tries to understand why Adam won't testify against his captors, Charlie helps Adam learn to live again, without fear.
1. Safe

_Author's Notes_: I have seen variations of the Stockholm syndrome in every fandom yet it is usually portrayed in an unrealistic manner so I've created a story that might answer the motives and reasons behind this syndrome (which doesn't involve a criminal with a soft spot for a good looking person, vice versa).

**-Chapter One-**

Charlie waited with bated breath, his eyes fixed on the Krispy Kreme store in front of him.  Who would have thought that the popular hangout would have become a target for five heartless people?  How much money could one doughnut store possibly hold?  Charlie felt as though his head was going to burst.  He wanted answers to questions he didn't even know yet.  Bombay, next to him, seemed to sense his discomfort.

"It'll be over soon," Bombay assured him.  "They have the captors in custody and they're going to bring out the captives now." 

"What's taking so long?" he asked, impatiently.  The sick, twisting feeling in his gut made him wish this whole ordeal was over with.  Bombay frowned.

"I don't know Charlie, but I think the policeman said something about the captives being uncooperative."

"Uncooperative?"

"I don't know all the answers right now Charlie, we just have to wait and see."  Julie stepped up and gripped his hand tightly, maybe to comfort him, maybe to keep him from bothering Bombay some more, who looked equally worn and tense.  The rest of the Ducks fanned behind them, all looking anxious and weary.  The hold-up had started about 78 hours ago; it was Saturday then.  It was Saturday night when Adam hopped into his car from all the wheedling of his friends to buy some snacks.  Charlie could almost hit himself but reminded himself, how were they to know that a quick trip to the store would turn into a nightmare?

"One of the captives has been shot, the police just found him," Bombay said.  Apparently he had been talking to one of the police.

"Who, who is it?" Charlie asked him urgently.  Bombay pushed his hair back, looking older, far older than someone his age should look.

"I don't know yet, we'll know soon."

"It's not Banks right?  It can't be him," Guy said.  Charlie shook his head.

"It can't be, not our Banks."  Guy seemed at peace then; he nodded, taking his captain's word for truth, all the Ducks did.  It was easier to cut off the treacherous brain from thinking up more morbid thoughts.  The sky was overcast and Charlie's back hurt from standing for a prolonged period of time.  It hurt almost unbearably but he didn't let himself complain, even internally.  He knew what he was going through was nothing compared to the hell his best friend must have endured for the past 78 hours.  At least he had a friend's hand gripped in his own with the rest of his friends close at his back.  He was with his family and friends while Adam was alone with strangers. 

"The police did a headcount and all seventeen people seem to be alive."

"Even the one shot?"

"He was the first to be taken to the hospital but the police won't disclose his name.  The rest seem relatively healthy, mildly dehydrated but that's to be anticipated."

The grip on Charlie's hand tightened, causing him to look away from Bombay's face and to the store's door.  It was opening.  The first to step out was a woman in her mid-thirties maybe.  She was looking disoriented, as though just jarred awake from a deep sleep.  She was led, as though in a daze, by the paramedics and was put into the ambulance.  The same was done for the next person to step out, a teenage boy, but he wasn't Adam.  His expression mirrored the woman before him; he blinked as though not used to light that wasn't artificial.  He nodded as the medics spoke to him soothingly and put him in the ambulance also.

"Are they all going to the hospital?" asked Charlie.

"They have to have a check- up and kept overnight to ensure that their trauma was minor and if not, they would be immediately referred to a psychiatrist."  Charlie watched the faceless people file out of the store and finally, a blonde boy stepped out.  He looked around and for a second, his blue eyes focused on Charlie.  Charlie started to wave and Adam cocked his head as though trying so hard to place Charlie's face.  The medics led him away and the blank and vaguely sad expression stayed on his face.  Unnoticed by the Ducks, however, they started to cheer.

"Why doesn't he recognize me?" Charlie asked.  Bombay was frowning.

"I'm sure he does, Charlie.  He's just been through a lot.  We all have to give him time." 

Charlie sighed though, and it was one of relief.  Adam Banks was safe.

……………………………………..

Adam stepped out, unsure of what to do next.  He was surprised to find a large crowd of people standing out there and he scanned the crowd until his eyes snagged on a brown-haired boy who was raising his arm as to wave.  Adam knew him, he was _sure_ of it.  But he was so tired and so thirsty.  Just give him a minute; he'll be able to figure it out.  But the medics started to lead him away.

"No, wait," he protested weakly.

"Come on," they said, gently but firmly.  Adam was helplessly led away and he tried to let the boy know he was sorry.  As soon as he was seated in the ambulance, however, the world outside seemed to suddenly turn into sand and trickle into his ears. 

_Charlie.  Charlie Conway.  My best friend_.  Adam's stomach knotted.  What's the matter with him?  How could he not even recognize his own best friend?  But the knotting eased a bit as the ambulance started to drive away when he heard the Ducks, his Ducks, cheering. 

……………………………………..

A/n: the actual symptoms will begin to appear beginning the next chapter.  Thanks for reading!


	2. Sleeping In

_Disclaimer_: I don't own.

_Author's Notes_: hey antiIRONY, Stockholm syndrome is named after a perplexing case in Stockholm in 1974 when four people were held captive in a bank vault for six days and became attached to their captives. Usually in fandom, this is because the captor happens to be a dashing young adult who happens to have a soft spot for other such good looking people and whatnot groans Right, while this may hold a more romantic note, the Stockholm syndrome is actually a very interesting psychological reaction to violence and this latter version of the Stockholm syndrome is what I'm hoping to convey in my fic. Okay, enough lecturing, hope you all enjoy the story

**-Chapter Two-**

Adam sat in the hospital bed feeling more than a little disoriented and desperately wishing he could go home and be in his own bed. Maybe he could ask one of the nurses very nicely if he could leave. Then he could go home, relax in his own bed, maybe pop in one of the Lord of the Rings DVDs into his TV and watch it, get his mind off of the last three days.

"Adam!" Adam looked up eagerly to see Bombay at the door, coming in. Okay, so maybe he couldn't go home just yet so this was good. He missed his old coach when he went off to greener fields, leaving the Ducks to fend for themselves as scared freshmen in a whole different school.

"Hey coach," he said. He sat up easily; honestly, he was feeling _fine_. He was perfectly healthy so why weren't they letting him go?

"How you feeling?" Bombay said, good-naturedly. Adam shrugged.

"Perfectly fine, I don't get why they're insisting I stay here for the night. I really want to go home, or at least back to the dorms."

"They're just making sure you're recovering from the trauma." Adam cocked his head. Sure he was terrified at first but the whole experience was…strange. Surreal. Nothing really traumatic, that made it sound so…so dramatic. He wasn't a drama kind of guy.

"Trust me, I'm not traumatized," Adam assured, with a wry grin. Bombay didn't return it and Adam could tell that although Bombay's tone of voice was kept light, he was tense and stressed.

"It isn't always apparent at first, Adam, just be sure to keep talking. You might want to keep things bottled up inside, about what happened, but I want you to know, I'll listen okay?" Adam listened with a slightly amused air. Why was Bombay making such a big deal about this? Sure, he had been terrified at first but it was really okay after awhile.

"Okay, Adam, you seem to be okay, like you said, so I'll ask you something now that I was planning on asking later, when you were more grounded."

"Sure, ask me anything."

"Are you prepared, Adam, to testify against your captors? You have to, seeing as how you were an integral part of this crime." Adam froze.

"Wait, what?"

"You have to testify. These men are criminals, Adam, they shot one of the captives, don't you remember?" Adam shrugged, he _did_ remember but the whole ordeal had been like a dream. He wasn't sure what he had dreamt and what he hadn't.

"I know they are," Adam finally said, hollowly. Bombay seemed satisfied, but Adam wasn't finished.

"But I won't testify against them." Bombay's eyebrows descended in confusion and surprise.

"You won't…testify?"

"I can't." The words came out a little more testily than Adam was planning. "I won't."

"But…Adam, the court needs your accounts."

"They can get others to testify. I won't do it." Bombay frowned. He thought this was rare. He thought this wasn't possible. There had to be another reason.

"Adam, are you afraid? I promise you, we will protect you. These men won't be able to hurt you if you testify."

"I'm _not_ afraid," said Adam. He was starting to get angry. "I don't. Look, can I be alone now?" He faked a yawn; he didn't bother making it seem realistic. Why won't Bombay leave him alone? He couldn't testify against them, not Junior. He and Junior were friends; they had an understanding. He couldn't; it'd be like testifying against Charlie.

"They could have killed me, especially Junior. They didn't, and now you're telling me to help me put them in jail?" Bombay just stared at Adam, trying to figure out how to make the boy lying in the hospital bed think rationally. He was being irrational; he wasn't thinking.

"Adam, I was wrong. I shouldn't have brought this on you right away. It was my mistake, rest up for a couple of days and I'll check on you sometime soon, okay?" Adam wasn't dumb. He knew his unwillingness to cooperate in the testimonies had something to do with this abruptness of Bombay's leaving. He was smart enough to realize that but he was also smart enough to follow Bombay's lead.

"Sure, I'll see you around then." Watching Bombay leave, Adam suddenly felt a growing ache in his temples. His hand reached to his ipod and he jammed the earphones into his ears almost violently. He turned up the volume as high as it would go.

_Don't wake me I plan on sleeping _

…………………………………….

"Hey Banksie." Adam opened his eyes, somewhat irritably. Couldn't they tell that he was trying to sleep? He checked his watch and realized with a minor shock that what he thought had been five minutes was actually three hours. It was evening now. He looked around him and saw the Ducks surrounding him.

"We had to sneak past the nurses," said Julie, cheeks flushed with excitement. A rule abider, just like Adam, even breaking a minor rule, such as too many people visiting a patient at one time, held a thrill for her.

"Hi." Adam honestly felt at a loss for words. What was he supposed to say? Before this…whatever it should be called happened, the Ducks knew everything about him that he had wanted them to know. They were well worn into each other but now he was filled with jagged edges that he wasn't sure he wanted the Ducks to sand down into smooth edges. Something had happened that the Ducks expected him to share but he wasn't sure if he wanted to. He marveled at how much three days could change him.

"How you feeling?" asked Dwayne. Adam shrugged.

"I feel fine, actually, but both the nurse and Bombay wanted to make sure I wasn't _traumatized_ you know?" Adam said this with a wry grin but it seemed to worry the Ducks.

"Adam if you ever want to talk, we're here for you," offered Luis. Adam thought that was pretty decent of him, seeing as how they were possibly the least close.

"Yeah, Adam, we're here for you," Guy added. Adam caught himself starting to roll his eyes. He blinked rapidly, feeling slightly guilty. Why was all this concern annoying him? He should be glad he had the Ducks to support him.

"Listen guys, I appreciate it, really, but I'm fine. _Really_." Most of the Ducks looked unconvinced so Adam tried a different tactic.

"I'm kind of tired. I really want to hang out longer but you guys should get going before you guys get into trouble." The Ducks fell for it. They had no reason to believe that Adam would be lying. The Adam they knew wouldn't lie. Despite the shorter than short visit, the Ducks obediently left their friend when he asked them to, except Charlie. He hung behind, but that was okay. Adam figured Charlie just wanted to make sure he was fine and he would leave soon too.

"How are you _really_ feeling?"

"I feel fine, really, why won't anyone believe me?" Adam asked, letting his annoyance creep into his voice. He knew Charlie wouldn't take it personally if he got pissed.

"Because you were held captive in a Krispy Kreme for three days, dumbass," said Charlie, affectionately. He turned serious soon after. "Seriously, you're acting like you're just recovering from a cold or something. It's weird and it's scaring all of us how you're taking it."

"You've barely talked to me," Adam scoffed. "Besides, what do you want me to do? Fly into hysterics every time I see another person?"

"That might be more normal."

"What is normal anyway, Charlie? How do you know how I should be acting? If I recall correctly you were never in a hostage situation." Adam knew he was being childish, using his situation as a crutch to make himself right, but he was getting angry. Why was everyone blowing everything out of proportion? They act as though these captors were criminals. Okay, fine, maybe they were according to the law but they had their own dreams and whatever. People were so damn judgmental.

Despite his internal tirade, Adam really didn't want his best friend to go away mad at him.

"Charlie?" Adam offered, as Charlie had turned to leave. "I'm sorry. I'm just stressed, more than I thought I was I guess. I'm just mad that everyone's treating me like I'm a kid. I'm okay. Really." Charlie nodded. He understood, he had to, as Adam's closest friend.

"I know. Don't be stressed. We won't pressure you if you don't want to talk." Adam nodded.

"And I'm sorry. For before." Charlie nodded again.

"I was really disoriented. I hadn't seen light that wasn't artificial for a long time and to be completely truthful, I was scared, really scared that they were going to hurt me for leaving them."

"What?" Adam's face was closed off, though, and Charlie knew he wasn't going to say anything more.

"I was scared too," Charlie finally said. "I wasn't sure if you were going to be okay." Adam shrugged.

"I guess so. You don't think about that that much when it's actually happening to you, I think. It's good to see you again."

"Same." Charlie got up.

"I have to cook dinner, you know, my mom's out again."

"I'm sorry." Adam winced for his friend. Casey had changed dramatically in the past year and suddenly she seemed to have decided that Charlie was old enough to not need his mother. She was constantly out, trying to find "the one," leaving Charlie alone. To most teenage boys, this would have been heaven, no nagging from their mothers, all the independence and privacy they wanted, but to Charlie it had been heartbreaking. For all his life Charlie had been close to his mom, they were all each other had in the house, but suddenly, his own mother dropped him. Adam knew that unconsciously it was scaring Charlie, scaring him a lot. Charlie was scared that his mom would leave and never come back, much like his dad had, despite what Casey tried to tell him.

"Look, Charlie, how about you bring some food back here and eat with me? All this institutional food and décor is really depressing me." Charlie chuckled a little, despite the lonely expression.

"You know what, that sounds great."

…………………………………….

Bombay paced back and forth in the hospital lobby. Orion finally pushed through glass doors.

"What is it, Gordon? Is something wrong with Adam? He's okay right?" Because Orion had been with his daughter for her weekly treatment, he had no idea what had happened with the release of the captives.

"There is something wrong but not what you think," Bombay said. His face was tight, his mouth set in a hard line.

"Adam's suffering from a lot more trauma than he believes. And it's hard to believe that he is. The boy is healthy, he's talking, and he's holding normal conversations. He seems completely at peace with the whole situation."

"I don't see a problem," Orion started, cautiously.

"He won't testify against his captors."

"That's perfectly normal; he's afraid of the consequences. He wants to forget about this…this _experience_."

"No, I don't think so. He has this…this weird I to them, Orion. Have you ever heard of Stockholm syndrome?" Orion waited patiently for Bombay to tell him.

"It's when captives start to identify with their captors. Their instinct to survive becomes greater than their judgment of the criminals. Adam's suffering from it. It's clouding his judgment. Without his testimony, these men might be given a lighter punishment than they deserve."

"Are you sure?"

"He's not the only one, Orion. I've talked to friends and family members of other victims and they all seem more or less unwilling to testify, at least severely, against these men."

"Then you mean these captors could make up whatever crap they want and they would get away with it?"

"They could say that they shot one of the victims out of protection, they can say whatever they want. They could get away with nothing but manslaughter charges."

"Why? How does Adam _not_ see that these people are criminals?" Bombay's face was determined.

"That's what I'm going to figure out."

…………………………………….

A/n: I had to remove the lyrics thanks to new rule.


End file.
